JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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To be healthy, live in the big city
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Japan's nuclear safety standards flawed, says commission chief
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Teacher nabbed for using miror to peek up girl's skirt
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From carnivores to herbivores: how men are defined in Japan
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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glycol57
Does Japan even NEED American military bases on its soil anymore ? What would it cost to upgrade the SDF enough to achieve the same degree of relative security provided by the Americans presence there ? A lot more than two billion ... maybe more like two HUNDRED billion ... although Japan would get to enjoy the pride of being in total control of its own land, and fate, once again.
Of course the implied support of American arms wouldn't be affected ... so the 'ultimate deterrent' against serious Chinese, Russian or N.Korean aggression would still be there - merely offshore on American ships and subs. Politely edging American soldiers off Japanese soil over the next decade or so would not turn America against Japan.
Indeed, closing foreign military bases are already important items in Americas new austerity plans ... so if Japan simply says they don't need GIs anymore, it would be a good excuse for the Americans to cut costs. Base closings would then seem like the Americans idea more than Japans. :-)
Posted in: Japan balks at $2 billion bill to host U.S. troops
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glycol57
What's going on in Japan ??? It was long one of the most peacable, orderly and safe nations in the world. Now, it seems like there are random attacks on innocents and murders every day - often committed by "ordinary people" without any long criminal history. A 56-year-old man ... you cannot even make a lame claim that he was warped as a child by too many violent mangas, video-games and Hollywood shoot- 'em-ups. Something broader is going on that leads people to belive that extreme violence is the only answer to their problems.
Yes, there has been a general economic downturn, but these have happened before without causing such large tears in Japans social fabric. I've heard some say that Japan has become "contaminated" with western values that sometimes glorify untargeted violence ... but Japan was just as "contaminated" in 1990, 1980, 1960 for that matter and there were no outbreaks of general mayhem. So, I don't think this is as easy as pointing a finger at what seems "obvious".
People tend to turn violent when they feel they have no control of their lives at any useful level and there's no hope for a better future. Violence is a way of taking control, at least at the personal level. It's a way to be powerful and important, even if it's within a very narrow sphere.
So why would so many Japanese feel out of control, helpless, hopeless, NOW ? What is different about NOW as compared to a decade or two in the past ?
Posted in: Man arrested after stabbing high school boy at train station
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glycol57
I wonder if it is time for a new definition of "education". For thousands of years the standard was long study from scrolls, books and interaction with teachers.
Now however, the internet offers huge volumes of detailed pre-compiled pre-interpreted pre-digested knowledge of any esoteric subject imaginible. Pick and choose what fits your need of the moment. Cut and paste.
Ruling out a total worldwide collapse of technological civilization, this situation is not going to change - indeed, the bank of such knowledge and the options for accessing it will only increase. 20 years from now, implanted devices will speak answers directly into your skull (it can be done now, but isn't ready for prime time yet), 30 years and you'll get private images/video too. 50 years and ... who can say ... databases and human brains all forming one huge homogenous 'cloud computing' network ???
So who prospers in such an environment - the person who spends decades memorizing and totally understanding a few subjects ... or the person who is best at sifting, organizing and presenting facts from the vast global database ? Hate to say it, but the latter kind of person will seem, and in many cases be, the more productive and generally utilitarian individual.
Naturally there will still have to be "experts", "specialists", those who go deep into one or a handfull of subjects. They are the ones who produce new knowledge. But MOST people will not be in that kind of occupation. What serves them best, what constitutes "education" for them, is the art and skill of information retrieval, compilation, presentation and utilization.
So, the future of "education" may be one of relative individual ignorance, save but finesse in making use of other peoples information, skill in "working the system". Why study and learn something when you can just 'Google' it in seconds - anytime, anywhere ?
Yesterdays kind of learning ... just for science geeks, stuffy boring people and such - you know, the insufferable types who think they're SO clever because they can work out square roots without using a calculator and know who the Trojans 2nd in command was at Thermopylae ..... :-)
And yes, in some ways we ARE becoming 'The Borg' - version 0.2 and counting ......
So, are Japanese students being "dumbed-down" ... or smartened-up where it does the most good for their futures ?
Sometimes you've got to rattle the old paradigms to see if they still hold up ... or crumble into a heap of rust on the floor.
Posted in: The dumbing down of Japanese students
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glycol57
Palin isn't really "presidential material" ... but she HAS improved considerably over the past 18 months. She used to sound like some small-town mom who just happened to win the governorship of an extremely rural state. Lately though, she seems much better informed, much more focused, much more eloquent. Not a "hick" anymore. She will be a major political player in the coming years.
What's really funny ... is that Palin would have faded back into obscurity EXCEPT that the left-leaning news media kept talking about her - to poke fun at her. This kept her in the limelight, in the loop, and the relentless attacks brought her many sympathizers. Even worse now for the 'left', they are SO vested in their "dumb hick" stereotype that anyone hearing the REAL Palin lately is shocked at how different she is from that propaganda image. It makes the 'left' seem like outright malicious liars (which they are - just like the 'right') and this will bring Palin even MORE supporters.
Posted in: Sarah Palin assails Obama at 'tea party' gathering
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glycol57
Yes. The "crisis" is being over-hyped to the extreme in order to build prejudice against Toyota ... and thus make American domestic automobiles (which surely have MORE flaws) seem more attractive.
One news clip showed a woman literally provoked to tears, whining about how her car MIGHT have a problem and thus how Toyota doesn't care if her child is killed in an accident. Of course, very FEW of the cars have ever actually experienced this problem - the woman and kid are more likely to die from a lightning strike - but you'd never know that from watching the American news media.
Of course American auto-makers are desperate for business, and the US government has gone far into debt just trying to keep them on minimal life support. No wonder there's some impetus to discredit foreign brands. On the other hand though, I have to wonder whether it's an unconscious bias, or whether the US government is physically involved in setting newsroom policy. If they're writing the copy ... bad, bad, BAD !
Posted in: Japanese ask: Is U.S. backlash on Toyota a ploy to boost American auto producers?
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glycol57
Two issues here :
First "rental pets" ... not really a good idea for cats and dogs - they tend to bond with a person, although cats can sometimes bond to a place instead so long as the people passing through feed and pet it. Now hamsters, lizards, snakes and such ... they barely know a human from a head of lettuce.
I'll take a bit of an issue with "rental underwear" too ... you'd always wonder whether it was properly washed, perhaps sterilized, when returned.
The second issue is a bit broader ... that so many people have come to realize that they don't actually have to OWN one of EVERYTHING. Why buy a car if you only drive once every other week ? Why buy a giant-screen TV if you're rarely home ? Why buy a boat if you're lucky to get out sailing twice a year ?
Why buy LOTS of junk that you'll almost never use ? When you need it, just rent it for the occasion instead. Saves lots of money and apartment space too. Makes life more 'portable' also ... find George Carlins old bit about "stuff" on the net if you can - food for thought.
The trend towards renting rather than permanently owning can have significant economic impact. Factories, and prices, are geared towards mass-ownership for many products ... so what happens if demand drops considerably because few actually buy ? Workers laid-off, exacerbating employment and money woes, plus the economy-of-scale that makes many items cheap disappears as well.
A TV that is now $1000 US dollars as a mass-production item might become a $5000, essentially hand-crafted, TV instead. On the plus side, substituting volume for cost could negate the advantages of industrial robots ... cause more humans to he hired instead ... which might offset the sales-volume downturn issues.
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glycol57
Time to face the horrible truth - the "unlimited bounty of the sea" has been used up ... in just a few decades. Between over-fishing and pollution there just isn't much left. Extreme measures need to be taken to preserve what does remain so it can seed a relatively rapid repopulation. Wait much longer and the remaining species will be so few that repopulation of useful species could take far longer, assuming outright extinction is avoided.
From now on, food fish will have to be farmed ... and become more of an expensive delicacy than the daily meal. While Japan recently announced that it has learned to farm tuna, the scale of production will never be up to the old days when they could just be scooped out of the seas by the megaton.
May I suggest a dietary re-emphasis ... substitute tasty birds for most instances when you would eat fish ? Chicken, turkey, pheasant, even emu - they are still reasonably healthy to eat and can be seasoned to anyones tastes. Beef is tasty, but should be limited because of its fat content and the amount of resources cattle consume. In short, what I'm saying, is that there IS life after fish - nobody has to become one of those pale-looking tofu-holics just because we need to leave the oceans alone for about 100 years. Plenty of other yummy, less environmentally critical, critters to snack upon :-)
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glycol57
This sort of thing is not all so unusual in the USA. Kids make bomb threats and such on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes it's to disrupt testing, sometimes just to get out of school, sometimes just for the fun of it. Of course sometimes there ARE bombs and mass-murder/suicide plots ... so authorities prefer to over-react. The antics of groups like al-Qaida make authorities even more nervous about bomb threats, so I can see why ALL the schools were closed down.
There seems a growing tendency towards 'extremist' solutions for even relatively trivial problems these days. What used to provoke harsh language or a fist fight is now settled with knives, guns and bombs. I suspect it has something to do with "over-control" ... layers of rules and laws that punish those lower-level responses to pressure, threats and abuses. The victims feel trapped, forced to do nothing ... until their anger becomes just too great and explodes with lethal intensity. It is not uncommon for these people to claim that the system seemed to be conspiring against them and aiding their tormentors.
Now in Jaoan ... academic pressures are very high. A student unprepared, or who thinks he/she is underprepared, for important exams can clearly be tempted to take a page from the al-Qaida playbook to temporarily forestall what they fear.
Alas, I think Japan has to keep putting great emphasis on academic achievement. It has become "The Technology Country" after all and its future depends on being at the leading/bleeding edge. If they don't keep pushing academic achievement, well, backsliding towards mediocricy is a lot easier than striving for excellence.
The USA slacked-off on pushing academics for a variety of political and economic reasons and overall excellence rapidly deteriorated. Various 'fixes' have been attempted, most recently the federal 'No Child Left Behind' initiative, but they have all failed, as so many grand government-managed plans often do.
Posted in: 15-year-old boy arrested for Saitama school bomb threat
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glycol57
Oh well, every country has its 'morality' laws. A few try to seperate religious laws from secular authority (with varying degrees of success - see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/02/AR2010010201846.html relative to Ireland and "blasphemy" laws).
Malaysia and Indonesia seem to be coming to a sort of crisis point of late however. They have become very 'modernized' in many respects and maintain constant commercial ties to other more libertine nations - yet the clerics and governments seem intent on continuing with sharia law and ultra-conservative Islamic principles. Much of the population yearns to breath free, so to speak, but Islam is an important tool, and sword, for those weilding political power.
It means something bad is going to happen. Not tomorrow, but within a generation. The children of these 'sinful libertines' will be even MORE libertine, even more deeply 'contaminated' by foreign cultures. Meek sumbission will give way to anger and conflict as extreme meets extreme.
Of course Japan also tried to shut out the rest of the world ... and had fair success for quite awhile. Of course the world was 'slower' back then too and far less 'connected'. Such an attempt wouldn't have lasted a single generation nowadays ... and it won't in Malaysia either.
In the meanwhile, a more disturbing trend is towards nations trying to apply their laws to activities that occur in other nations. The USA is on a kiddie-porn witchhunt - so anything a US citizen allegedly does in Cambodia warrants arrest if they return to the USA. Iran now claims that sharia and national laws apply to its citizens even when they are abroad - and will prosecute 'un-Islamic' behavior, theoretically up to applying the death penalty. The whole idea seems an attempt to create a "no escape / no asylum" psychology to terrorize the population ... the old "Big Brother is watching you" thing.
If such trends continue unchecked the world could become a much less pleasant place to live. In the end, the laws of the very most oppressive, fascistic country become THE law for the rest of the world. This was attempted in the USA about fifteen years ago when lawsuits were filed by ultra-religious activists from a 'porn'-unfriendly state claiming that satellite TV broadcasts originating from other states were violating that one states laws and had to cease (meaning they'd have to cease everywhere due to the nature of satellite broadcasting). The suits were eventually dismissed ... but this APPROACH to imposing somebodys idea of sharia law everywhere remains a threat.
Posted in: 52 unmarried Malaysian Muslim couples face jail for hotel liaisons
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glycol57
From the list, Coca-Cola was destined to win. It's mostly a matter of pure persistence. 'Santa', albeit an old european icon, was only super-popularized by American businessmen and then mostly only from the 1930s and is a 'Christian' religious symbol. The McDonalds chain is surely well known, but we are talking entire resturaunts instead of little bottles and cans. McDonalds just hasn't permeated the world (yet). Besides, the food is kind of yucky ... you'd do better with Wendys or Burger King ......
Coke however is a "secular" product - religiously and politically neutral - and portable as well. It has easily made its way into every nation, every culture. The biting flavor isn't for everyone, but it's for ENOUGH people to ensure you can find a can deep in the heart of Africa or in the frozen wastes of Siberia.
Besides, how can you do rum & Coke or vodka Coke without the Coke ? Pepsi just doesn't taste right :-)
Posted in: What do you think is the most recognizable image in the world?
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glycol57
Hmmm ... just shout "Allah akabar !" as loud as you can and the whole train car will magically empty itself :-)
Also, not bathing for, oh say, six months .....
Posted in: 10 ways to get a seat on a packed commuter train in Japan
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glycol57
There are hundreds of cultures in the world and they all have different ideas about what is "taboo". Japans laws and attitudes are not going to be the same as those in some bible-thumping snake-handling US state and those are not going to be the same as the Taliban are pushing in Afghanistan. If anyone is terribly shocked by this incident then they should look into what goes on in africa, south asia and 'arab' nations. Japan is positively puritanistic compared to some of THOSE goings-on.
What most FAIL to worry about here is how a woman in a modern 1st-world country can become SO poor, SO desperate, that she'd rent her baby for such activities. Where are the government and social support networks ? If she had respectable alternatives then this incident would not have happened in the first place.
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glycol57
In a nutshell, the answer is "NO" ... I'm not going to pay extra for online news that's already littered with profit-generating advertisements. If Mr. Murdoch is so greedy as to demand even MORE profit then he can charge more for ad space. This, of course, assumes his advertisers think his products are likely to attract people in the first place (opinions vary so far as that goes).
Charging for online news will have an immediate effect - a mass-migration away from those who charge money to those who do not. Could be that al-Jazeera or Xinhua or Tass or perhaps even Japan Today might become THE new source for the worlds news and views. Somehow, I don't think Mr. Murdoch would like that very much. His ego couldn't tolerate being ignored by the world.
Posted in: Murdoch: Media must get readers to pay for online news
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glycol57
While organ donation/transplant could stand to be more 'popularized' in Japan, in countries where they ARE popular there remain serious issues about who benifits from a very limited resource. There are never enough organs to meed the need.
Therefore, the REAL push has to be in two other directions ... synthetic organs and xenotransplantation (using animal organs while suppressing immune rejection of the mismatched tissue).
Advances ARE being made with synthetic organs, some simple ones (bladders, livers) might be availible soon, followed later by hearts and maybe kidneys (a structurally complex organ).
Xenotransplants potentially offer a "right NOW" fix (for people/cultures that aren't squeamish about such things) except for the immune rejection issue. Find ways to fool the body into gracefully accepting 'alien' tissue and there would suddenly be an unlimited supply of 'spare parts'.
And yes, there are subsidiary approaches such as using stem cells to repair bad organs, even artificial organs (mechanical/semi-mechanical) to some extent, but nothing beats genuine natural protoplasm-based organs for long-term performance and stem cells can't deal with a crisis situation where there's just no time for a slow re-build.
Posted in: Twin organ recipients breathe life into Japanese transplant advocacy
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glycol57
Every country has its priorities and traditional ways of dealing with those priorities. If the adult salaryman is seen as "more valuable" then that's a decision which filters down to many other aspects of life - including child abuse and murder.
Still though, Japanese parents seem to devote a lot of attention, effort and emotion on their children. You would think that the "value" of a child would have risen over time ... above 8.5 years in jail per child brutally murdered. Perhaps the legal code will eventually catch-up with the popular culture.
Posted in: Man gets 17 yrs for fatally abusing girlfriend's 2 daughters
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glycol57
I think any nominally "free" country simply must give its women the choice between birthing an unwanted/unaffordable child and medical abortion. The morals/ethics of abortion are rather grim (and endless), but sane people realize that sometimes the purely practical trumps ideologies and theologies and that's just the way it is.
That said, there IS a point when a fetus is developed enough that it should qualify as a "citizen" ... the last two or three months for sure. Abortions during that timeframe should probably require a court review. That still leaves plenty of time to decide on a no-hassle elective abortion.
In the meanwhile though ... CONTRACEPTION ! Lots of very effective methods, very cheap, very easy - and thus no excuses for "suprise" pregnancies. There should be subsidized vending machines in every school & business locker-room so those in need can get contraceptives for (almost) nothing - and it would be money well spent, and ultimately saved, by the govt. Any female biologically capable of getting pregnant should at least have a "morning-after" pill in her kit somewhere.
Posted in: What's your stance on abortion?
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glycol57
Actually, American jurors ARE allowed to directly question defendants and witnesses also - though usually for "clarification" purposes. It is not "usual" practice, carries certain risks to due process, but isn't explicitly forbidden. Jury involvement was more common in the 18th and early 19th centuries when juries often were composed of a defendents actual "peers" - people who knew him.
However, in the case under discussion, a jurors admission that he'd become "pissed off" at the defendant and thus could no longer be objective and unbiased would likely de-rail any American trial.
Of course Japan is not America, there are differences in ideas about how things should be done and exactly what might disqualify a juror. An "angry" Japanese juror might still be a "fair" juror, whereas an 'angry' American juror probably wouldn't.
Posted in: Jury member loses cool in Miyagi high school girl rape case
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glycol57
Now now ... opinion is split even amongst the most ardent FOXnews viewers. A suprising number are reputed to require three whole digits to write their IQs :-)
Americans rapidly got used to the "King of the World" status they enjoyed right after WW-2. Alas, the national ego is bruised any time they are reminded that they no longer hold that status. Obama reminded them. China is going to remind them again in the future ... often ... so America had better get used to it.
All Obama attempted was a simple courtesy, perfectly appropriate for Japan. He didn't get it quite right - the fault of his protocol staff - but, as they say, his heart was in the right place. A slight bow does not signify inferiority, merely respect.
I suspect the difference in height was also involved, he had to bend down quite far before he was even at eye-level with the emperor. In any event, it seems the emperor took the gesture as it was intended ... hopefully concluding that Obama was not a totally arrogant western imperialist pig :-)
Posted in: Should President Barack Obama have bowed to the emperor while he was in Japan?
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glycol57
I do not see any problems with an American president bowing to the emperor - within certain limits anyway. When visiting, a small bow shows respect - both for the emperors age and his status.
The only issue with Obamas bow is that it seems his staff did not do any research and drill him in his options. The bow seemed very awkward, something he thought he should do at the very last second without a chance to mentally reherse the move.
As such, it was too deep and rather oddly combined with a handshake, seemingly leaving the emperor uncertain as to how he should respond. A quick, slight, bow would have been more appropriate for heads of state ... respect amongst equals. I blame his diplomatic staff, it is their job to make sure their president understands basic protocol in every country he visits.
In short, Obamas intentions were good, he simply wasn't quite sure how to express them. Cultural faux-pas are hardly unusual in either diplomatic or business circles and it is wise to view them in the best light.
American critics of this simple show of respect though ... I believe they still think it's proper to look down their noses at Japan 60+ years after the war - as inferiors expected to bow to their American masters. In some ways America never moved on from its post-WW2 "king of the world" mentality. It's a comfort, keeps up the national ego perhaps, but it is also serious self-delusion which will have increasing consequences as time goes on.
I think Obama will receive a lesson in humility from the Chinese this week ... who have zero intentions of adjusting their currency to make life easier for the USA and europe. The center of the world has largely shifted from north America and is taking up new residence in east asia.
Posted in: Obama's bow to emperor causes outrage in Washington
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glycol57
International agreements should be adhered-to. Countries that change or throw out such agreements every time the people in government change are ... well ... unreliable. Why make ANY kinds of agreements, ANY long-term plans with such people ? The system must be stronger than the individuals who inhabit it at any given moment or it's all useless.
Now BAD agreements - or ones that became bad because circumstances and situation have changed considerably - CAN often be re-negotiated. That's the proper, honest, approach.
Posted in: Should the Japanese government stick to the 2006 agreement over the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, which the previous government and the U.S. agreed upon?